"The FIA should push harder for our safety" - Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz say the lack of proper barriers at Miami GP is 'not acceptable'

Both Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon are unhappy with the FIA for not putting up Tecpro barriers in the area where both the drivers crashed during the Miami GP FPs. Carlos Sainz had suffered a crash in that section in FP2, after which he was forced to miss the rest of the session. Esteban Ocon suffered a 51G impact, which was even worse than the 47G impact of Carlos Sainz.

Carlos Sainz, as Ocon later revealed, had broached the matter during the drivers' briefing and asked why there were no Tepcro barriers in place at Turn 13. Sainz believed that the crashes should not have been as big as they were. The Alpine driver was in complete agreement with Sainz on the matter and expressed his disappointment on the issue as well, saying:

“It hurts, definitely. It was 51G, a hard impact, but I will be fit to race tomorrow, that’s the main thing. It’s a mistake I don’t usually do. It’s been a while since I’ve done one like that.

But clearly what’s a bit disappointing is the chassis change, really. The impact has been so hard in comparison to what it should have been. We discussed it with Carlos yesterday with the race directors, to say we should probably put a Tecpro barrier there, and it hasn’t been listened [to]. So that is not acceptable, and the FIA should push harder for our safety.”

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Both Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz had to visit the medical center

Both Ocon and Sainz had to visit the medical center after the crash. Even though the crashing speeds were not as fast, the severe impact of the crashes was all the more alarming for the drivers due to that.

Talking to the media, Sainz was critical of the FIA. He mentioned that a suggestion was put forth by the drivers to put Tecpro barriers ahead of the wall in that section to make the section safer. However, this had not been done and Esteban Ocon ended up facing an even worse predicament, as his crash left him with a cracked chassis and he was forced to sit out of the qualifying session altogether.

Talking to the media, Carlos said:

“I mean, I’m sorry to be critical but I told the FIA yesterday my crash in second gear shouldn’t feel that hard, but today my neck was a bit in pain. I told them ‘let’s put Tecpro there’ because it’s [a] very hard concrete wall. Esteban went to crash and I’m pretty sure he felt it too. It’s one of those things I will never understand. I did bring it up already, [but] no change.”

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Nevertheless, despite the crash and its impact, Sainz was able to qualify second for the 2022 Miami GP race.